Is the Shine Coming Off the Dime?

Sarah Palin’s sudden and immense rise in popularity and star power has been truly astounding. Her nomination to the VP position on the GOP ticket has completely electrified the Republican party.

But is the party already over? According to New York magazine,

as voters have dug deeper into Palin’s, you know, actual record and positions, they’ve begun to sour on her — and swung the race back to Obama.

Check out the evidence:

• Robin Toner and Adam Nagourney write that in the latest NYT/CBS News Poll, it seems “that Ms. Palin’s selection has, to date, helped Mr. McCain only among Republican base voters.” Though much was made of her possible appeal to former Hillary supporters, “there was no evidence of significantly increased support for [McCain] among women in general.” Six in ten were concerned about her ability to take over for McCain as president if necessary, and 75 percent thought she was chosen as McCain’s running mate to help win the election, not to govern. [NYT]

• John Dickerson says “the Palin novelty has started to wear off.” Obama has stopped talking about her and returned focus on McCain, and the Obama campaign’s “polling suggests initial interest in her is diminishing.” They “scoff” at the idea that Palin has put Iowa back in play. [Slate]

• Matthew Yglesias charts a steep drop in Palin’s net favorable rating over just the past week, from +17 to -1 according to one poll. He concludes that those who advised Obama to ignore Palin were clearly wrong; “when you attack someone, she becomes less popular.” [Think Progress]

• Ross Douthat was one such person, but disagrees with Yglesias that it was bad advice. Actually, “it’s advice that the Democratic ticket has largely taken over the past week-to-ten days.” Palin’s numbers have dropped because of “negative press reports on her Alaska career … ongoing coverage of the still-simmering Troopergate scandal — and especially by her widely-watched, none-too-impressive interview with Charlie Gibson.” The Democrats have “been doing a decent job of just getting out of the way, and leaving it to the media (and Palin herself) to undo her initial spike in popularity.” [Atlantic]

• Jim Geraghty believes the Palin “bounce appears to have run its course.” Why? Because “in just about every appearance [except for 9/11] Obama and Biden have been on the attack.” So far, that hasn’t cost Obama. [Campaign Spot/National Review]

And that’s only about half of it. Hit the page, yo.